Bill Clinton calls for Defence of Marriage Act to be struck down

Former president Bill Clinton, who in 1996 signed into law an act defining
marriage as between a man and woman, said on Thursday the measure was
unconstitutional and should be overturned by the US Supreme Court.

Bill Clinton said the law he once signed was unconstitutional.Photo: GETTY

4:43AM GMT 08 Mar 2013

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, Mr Clinton, a Democrat who served as president from 1993 to 2001, said it was "a very different time" when he signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) into law. No US state then recognised gay marriage, although some were moving in that direction, he said.

With federal lawmakers then debating various responses, "some quite draconian," many supporters of DOMA believed its passage would defuse moves to push for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, Clinton wrote.

Noting that the Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 27 challenging the constitutionality of DOMA, Mr Clinton wrote the justices "must decide whether it is consistent with the principles of a nation that honors freedom, equality and justice above all, and is therefore constitutional.

"As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and in fact, incompatible with our Constitution."

The Obama administration has also urged the high court to strike down the law, saying it violates the guarantees of equal protection under the law by denying same-sex married couples federal benefits available to married heterosexuals.